Crunch Time

In response to Ryan P. Cruz’s article “Caught in the Rental Crunch,” here is another story regarding the Santa Barbara rental insanity.

About a year ago, my husband and I were ready to purchase a home. We were realistic that Santa Barbara wasn’t in the cards for us, so we looked elsewhere, intending to remain renters in the local area. We purchased a three-bedroom home in Boise, Idaho, with the intention of renting it out. About that time we were given notice to move out of our rental in the Santa Barbara area, and after three months of looking we finally gave up. Not only had the rental prices basically doubled in four years, there was virtually no inventory.

We changed course and moved to Boise this past summer. It was a great decision for us. Boise is a welcoming community with gorgeous scenery and lots of wonderful things to do.

Both my husband and I were active in the local Santa Barbara community, active volunteers, as well as small business owners. What a loss for us and the community. Thank goodness for the great work the Santa Barbara Housing Authority, Santa Barbara Tenants Union, and other agencies are doing, but it is not enough. Santa Barbara’s local government has allowed the town to become untenable for many of us to live, prioritizing property value over people.